Here's To Us
by marjooe
Summary: AU. No powers. After tragedy strikes, Claire has to move in with her aunt Heidi, a woman she barely knows, and her family. Though it doesn't seem like it'll every get easier to breathe, maybe time, and a certain someone, will help numb the pain. Will have Peter/Claire pairing as they are not related by blood in this story.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: I recently started watching Heroes and I must say I'm quite fond of the show.**

**I really liked the chemistry between Claire and Peter, but then I found out that they were related and okay, that's obviously important for the show, but for me it was kind of a buzz kill. This idea popped into my head and it's totally AU. In this story Claire is Heidi's niece, not Nathan's daughter which means that she and Peter are not related by blood in any way. There are no special powers or anything either. Basically I'm just using the characters to tell my story, so I'm sorry if they seem OOC, but I hope you'll like it anyway! Peter will not be introduced in this chapter, but bear with me, this is going to be a Claire/Peter story. It may be a bit angsty at first, but give it a chance.**

**I figured I'd try to post the first chapter to see if anyone would be interested in reading this story, so let me know, please! This is unbeta'd so any mistakes are mine. **

**Disclaimer: I do not own Heroes nor am I making any profit on this.**

She stares at the big building in front of her, her eyes trailing the stairs leading to the front door. The Petrelli Mansion; more like the Petrelli Prison since she's being forced to stay against her will.

"Are you coming, Claire?" Her aunt, a woman she's mostly seen only in pictures, asks. Heidi is standing a couple of steps in front of her, head turned towards her.

Claire adjusts the bag she has thrown over her shoulder and nods slightly. She doesn't respond to her aunt's smile, just walks past her and up the stairs, waiting for Heidi to come open the door. She sees her aunt's smile fade, sees the sad look in her eyes, but she pushes the guilt away. She didn't ask for any of this either.

When Heidi opens the door, she allows Claire to enter first, offering her a "welcome to your new home."

Claire wants to tell her that this is not, nor will it ever be, her home, but she bites her tongue. Instead she looks around in the impressive hall and wonders, not for the first time, how rich her aunt's husband really is.

"Don't worry about the rest of your bags. Nathan will get them for you later," Heidi continues after closing the door behind them. "He's not home right now, but you'll meet him soon enough. Simon and Monty, too."

Claire just nods. She's met Nathan even fewer times than Heidi and she doesn't recall ever meeting her cousins.

They stand in awkward silence in the hall for a while as Heidi tries to let Claire sink it all in. They both know that Claire moving in won't be an easy transition and while Heidi is determined to make it work, Claire is not so sure about the whole thing.

"Do you want to see your room?" Heidi asks.

Claire shrugs and says, "sure," figuring she needs somewhere to throw her bag anyway.

She follows Heidi up the stairs, looking around as she does. This house is huge and she doesn't get how four people need this much space. It's easily three times as big as her old house and that never even seemed too small. She wants to go back, go back home to her own house, her own room. Tears are pricking in her eyes and suddenly she's not even the slightest bit interested in seeing her new room.

Heidi stops at the door furthest down the hall. She glances at Claire, but if she notices the tears she chooses not to comment on them. After all, she's spent her own fair share of time fighting the tears.

"Nathan suggested this room. We figured that you might want to feel like having some privacy," Heidi explains and then points to the door across from the room. "You have your own bathroom and our room is down the opposite end so you don't have to worry about being too loud." She pauses. "Within limits off course."

The room is big, but really, Claire should not be surprised considering the rest of the house. It's fairly plain, though, and a bit boring to look at. The walls are painted white and there are only a few furniture; a bed, closet, desk and a chair.

"I know what you're thinking," Heidi says behind her. "Right now it doesn't seem as much, but we thought it would be better to let you decorate."

"It's fine," Claire replies quickly. She forces herself to smile and she sees the relief in her aunt's eyes. "Maybe I could get some of my own things. From my old room?" She looks expectantly at Heidi who seems to think it over, but in the end nods.

"Of course. I'll see what I can do, though most of it is probably in storage now."

Storage… Her whole life has been packed in boxes and put away and there's nothing she can do about it. Now she's supposed to move on in this mansion (read prison) with people she doesn't know. It's all pointless, if you ask her. She was supposed to be with them…

She shakes herself out of her thoughts and thanks her aunt. She wasn't raised to be this selfish and she knows that this isn't easy for any of them, so she figures she should at least try. If only just a little.

"I'll come get you when it's time for dinner and then you can meet the others. Until then I'll leave you to get some rest," Heidi says softly. She seems to be thinking carefully about everything she says before the words leave her mouth and Claire doesn't see how this will ever get to feel normal if they're all going to walk on egg shells around her.

"That sounds fine," she finds herself saying and as soon as her aunt is gone she dumps her bag on the floor and throws herself face down on the bed and screams in to the pillow, the item muffling her sounds.

It's an hour and a half before there's a knock on her door. She's been sitting on the bed waiting, biting her nails in anticipation. She's showered, dressed more comfortably and practiced her smile in front of the mirror. She's ready for this.

Dinner is awkward to say the least. Nathan is sitting at the head of the table, Heidi on his right side and with Monty (or is it Simon?) beside her. That leaves Claire on Nathan's left side and her other cousin at her side.

Claire's not really sure what to think of Nathan yet. He seems rather gloomy only offering a rare smile if either of his sons tell one of their stories from school.

Simon and Monty both seem thrilled to have her there, talking about how awesome it is that they have a cousin and they're only slightly disappointed that she's so much older and probably doesn't want to play with them. It quickly fades, though, as they launch into another story about some boy who spilled his milk all over himself at lunch.

"How do you like your new home?" Nathan asks suddenly, and there's that word again that makes her stomach knot. Something about the way he says it tells her that he isn't exactly thrilled about this whole ordeal either.

"It's really beautiful here," she replies honestly. However, that's exactly why she can't imagine feeling at home here. Everything is just too perfect. "And I appreciate you letting me decorate my room on my own."

He nods curtly and the rest of the dinner is eaten mostly in silence for anyone but the two boys.

She's always had trouble sleeping at new places. Whenever she would stay over with a friend, she would lay awake for hours while the other was sleeping. It's the same now. There are so many new noises that she isn't used to and she stiffens with every creek she hears. She can tell that it's going to be a long night.

Finally, well after midnight, she decides to go to the kitchen for something to drink. Monty and Simon gave her a tour of the mansion after dinner and she finds that it's easier being in their company than Heidi's and Nathan's.

She tiptoes around even though she probably won't wake anyone by being up since every room seems to be so far apart. It's ridiculous, she thinks. She just wants her old home.

When Claire gets to the kitchen, she hears voices so she stops before the door. She wants to turn around and head back to her room, figuring that something to drink isn't worth the awkwardness of seeing whoever is in the kitchen, but then she hears her name and she stills.

"This isn't going to work."

"Nate, please. We already agreed this was for the best," Heidi says and sighs. "Claire's been through so much, she needs something stable."

Claire can hear some movements on the other side of the door and she steps a little closer in order to hear better. She knows she shouldn't be listening in on someone else's conversation, but she can't help herself. Especially not when it's about her.

"She's seventeen. Isn't she old enough to live on her own?"

Claire has to agree with Nathan on this, she's been wondering the exact same thing.

"I'm her legal guardian and she may have less than a year before turning eighteen but until then she's staying with us. For God's sake, Nate, her parents died. My brother died!" Heidi sounds almost hysterical until taking a deep breath. "She's all I have left of him and you want me to just send her out on her own?"

Claire has to hold in a gasp, her heart suddenly beating so fast it almost hurts her chest. She can't breathe and fumbles around to find something to help keep her balance.

She doesn't stay to hear Nathan's reply but instead turns on her feet and runs towards her room, not caring if they'll hear her or not. She reaches her room and when she's safely inside leans against the door and slides down until she hits the floor. She hugs her knees to her chest and buries her head in them as sobs start taking over her.

It's not fair. Her parents were kind people who never bothered anyone. One night changed all that as a car crashed into theirs, all involved killed on impact.

It's been a month but Claire still remembers Heidi calling her to tell her about the accident. Apparently being under eighteen meant that the police weren't allowed to call her with the news so instead she had to hear it from a woman she couldn't even remember.

Claire can't even really remember the last month since it happened. Everything is just a blur as she tries to think back. There was the funeral that she knows she cried herself through and then decisions had to be made about her and that's how she's ended up here.

"This has to be a nightmare," Claire cries into her knees. Sometimes that's the only way she gets through the day, by convincing herself that nothing is real and that she'll wake up to her parents bickering playfully at the breakfast table soon. "Please, wake up."

It doesn't feel like it'll ever get better than this.


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: I wasn't sure if I was going to update this story or not since it didn't seem like anyone was reading it. But then it got two followers and I figured I might as well give it another chance. So, here you go! **

Going back to school is a nightmare. She gets to stay at her old high school which means everybody knows what has happened. She's used to people staring at her in the halls when she walks by because she's a cheerleader which automatically labels her as being one of the popular kids. She's used to the envious stares. She's not used to this.

The other students are trying to be less obvious about staring at her which really just makes it even more obvious. They look down and away when she passes them, but she hears the whispers, hears the stories of her being the one who lost everything being told to the few who don't already know. It's sickening.

Even the teachers don't know how to talk to her. They leave her alone in most of her classes, only offering sympathetic looks and a squeeze on her shoulder. Her English teacher is the only one to actually hold her back as the others leave.

"How are you holding up?" Mrs. Fields asks in a voice probably meant to be soft and sincere, but to Claire it feels forced.

"I'm fine." She smiles tightly and glances at the watch above the door. This is her last class and she's exhausted, emotionally as well as physically.

Mrs. Fields examines her closely and Claire shifts uncomfortably under her gaze. "I feel horrible bothering you with this now, but you lost quite some classes. Which you shouldn't worry about, of course," she adds quickly, smiling at Claire. "But I've got some papers for you, stuff you need to read up on. If you need help with anything, you –"

"It's okay," Claire interrupts quickly. She's missed out on all of her classes and she figured there would be a ton to catch up on. "I'll manage."

"Claire," Mrs. Fields says and then seems to be at a loss for words. They're surrounded by an awkward silence until Mrs. Fields finally clears her throat. "Don't be afraid to speak up if there's anything you need. Anything."

Claire just nods and sends out another practiced smile and Mrs. Fields finds the papers for her and as Claire is about to leave she feels her shoulder being squeezed and she's lost count of how many times that has happened today.

Having to take the bus to and from school sucks, especially when she sees it drive off just as she walks out from the school. She doesn't even bother running after it since it's already too far gone. She huffs in frustration. It's just not her day, she figures. It hasn't been her day for a long time.

She walks to the bus stop to see what time the bus will be back and sighs when she sees that she has to wait an hour. Looking around she catches sight of a bench where she sits down. She tilts her head back and looks up at the sky, willing the time to pass quickly.

The sound of a car approaching and stopping close to her reaches her ear, but she doesn't really think about it. She looks at the clouds instead and uses her imagination to make them look like animals or things, creating stories about them in her head. She used to do this with her mom when she was younger.

"Hey, Claire!" There's honking.

She finally looks at the car, now right in front of her. The window is rolled all the way down in the front seat and Brody is leaning his body out of it. He's grinning at her and waving her over.

"Hi," she says, but stays still.

"Need a ride?"

She's not surprised that he asks. It's not the first time. Usually she would have said no, but today she just wants to go home and lock herself into her room, so she doesn't even consider it before she grabs her back and heads to the other side of the car to get in.

"Thanks," she tells him, buckling up.

He smiles and drives off, seemingly knowing where to go even though she hasn't told him where she lives now. Another thing that everyone just seems to know. He makes small talk as they drive and she tries to get into it, answers all his questions and even asks about him too. Though she's been going to school with Brody for what seems like forever, she only really knows _about_ him and not him per say. She knows his family is wealthy, he's the quarterback on the football team and he's one of the most popular guys in school. She doesn't know what's underneath all that though, she doesn't know all the small things that make him into him.

"I'm throwing a party Friday night," Brody suddenly says. He looks at her and gives her a dashing smile. "You should come!"

"Oh, uhm…" Claire trails off. It's not that she doesn't like parties, she just doesn't like Brody's parties. She's been to a few of them and while she's not against drinking and having fun, there are usually things going on that she doesn't want to know about.

They reach Heidi's place and he parks in the driveway. For a minute, none of them speaks, they're both just looking out the front window at the impressive house in front of them.

"Do you like it here?" he asks and she just shrugs. "About the party. I would really like it if you were there." He grabs her hand suddenly and she just stares down at it, then looks up. She's not a fool, she knows that he's asking her to the party in a date like way without really saying the words. She tries to come up with an excuse, or just anything to say, and she's saved when she sees Heidi emerging from the house, then stopping as she throws weird glances at the car.

"Oh, there's my aunt. I better go." She opens the door, grabs her bag and gets out. She leans in and smiles politely. "Thanks again for the ride." Then she slams the door and walks away from the car without looking back.

She stops when she reaches her aunt by the door and it's not until then that she hears Brody drive off.

"Who was that?" Heidi asks, looking over Claire's shoulder.

Claire follows her gaze now that she's sure Brody isn't there anymore. "Just a guy from school."

"Oh?"

Claire can hear the question in there, but there's not much to tell. "Are you going out?"

"Just to pick up some stuff for dinner," she replies. "Anything you'd like for dessert?"

Claire's eyebrows narrow in question. There's not usually dessert on a Wednesday night. She rags her brain, but she can't remember anything out of the ordinary.

Heidi, seemingly picking up on her confusion, just shakes her head in a mild manner. "Don't tell me you've forgotten, too."

That only leaves Claire even more confused. "Forgotten what?"

"Nathan's brother is coming to dinner. I swear, Nathan looked just as confused as you do now when I reminded him."

Even now, Claire still can't remember ever hearing about that. She figures it isn't something to beat herself up over, at least she's not the one who forgot her own brother was coming over. "Do I have to come down for dinner?" she asks instead. "I have a ton of homework."

Heidi sighs. "You've already skipped more dinners than I can count." She's not saying yes directly, but Claire can hear it in her words anyways.

"I'll be down," she murmurs, walking around her aunt to get inside.

She goes directly to her room and she knows she should probably get started on her extra homework, but she really doesn't want to. It's not something she can explain, but it all just seems so pointless. She sits down on her bed and pulls her legs up. She's still not used to this being her room and she doesn't feel at home. She hasn't done much to decorate it yet. There are still no pictures on the wall, no personal items on the desk besides her books for school and most of her clothes are still packed in bags.

Clare glances at her wristwatch, the one her parents gave her for Christmas last year, and there's still at least three hours until she has to go down. Looking at her desk, she knows she really should get started on some reading, but she pushes all thoughts of that away and lies down. It doesn't take long before she falls asleep.

She is woken up by something, or probably someone, banging on her door. It's too heavy to be Heidi and Nathan has never come to her room before, so she knows it's probably Simon or Monty.

"Come in," she calls, rubbing sleep out of her eyes.

The door cracks open and a Monty's head quickly comes into sight as he pushes it in. He looks at her for a short moment. "Are you sleeping?"

"I was," Claire replies. "What's up?"

Monty pushes the door wide open and runs to the bed with his short legs, making himself comfortable beside Claire. He looks at her, that big grin of his in place and she can't help but smile back. He and Simon seem to be the only ones who can make her smile without it being too forced.

"Mom said to tell you that Uncle Peter's here!" Monty bounces slightly on the bed as he speaks and there's no doubt that he's excited.

"Already?" She looks at her watch, surprised that she slept for so long. She'd planned to shower and change clothes, but now her simple top and jeans will just have to do. After all, it's just Nathan's brother who's here.

Monty hops off the bed. "Come, come, come!"

Claire wonders if he's had sugar or if it's his uncle that has that effect on him. Either way, the kid is bubbling with too much energy.

"Alright, alright," she says, smiling at the sight in front of her. She stretches her legs and when she stands up, Monty grabs her hand to pull her along. The gesture makes her freeze for a second, but then she feels something warm inside her and she lets herself be dragged downstairs.

They hear laughter coming from the living room and Monty lets go of her hand and runs down the rest of the stairs. He disappears into the other room and she follows him, although a bit slower. The laughter seems to be a mix of a child's and an adult's and it gets higher as she approaches. There's something about the sound of it that makes her oddly happy inside, like she can't stop smiling just by listening to it.

She stops in the doorway, afraid to interrupt what's going on. Monty is standing beside the coffee table, squealing as he roots for his brother. Simon is sitting in the couch, leaning forward with his elbow firmly placed on the coffee table. He's biting his lip, smiling but determined. Across from him is a man Claire hasn't seen before. He's sitting on the floor, elbow on the table as well as he arm wrestles Simon. His face has a look of pure joy and there's a boyish charm to him as his dark hair falls into his eyes. They all laugh as Simon manages to push his opponent's hand down to hit the table.

"My turn!" Monty yells, and the man ruffles his hair.

"In a minute. Simon really did a number on me," he says, humor and warmth in his words. Then he looks up and notices her standing awkwardly in the doorway. "Oh, hey." He gets up from the floor, suddenly towering over the children. At first she can't believe this man is Nathan's brother. She can see the physical resemblance, but this man's face is so… Open. Warm. She can't explain it, but she feels herself smiling just by seeing him smile.

"Hi," she says.

Monty walks over and grabs her hand again, dragging her further into the room.

"Uncle Peter's here!"

The man, Peter, looks at his nephew and chuckles. When he looks up, his eyes meet hers and they are so full of life. It's almost too much to look at. "I'm sorry, I didn't hear you come down." He offers her his hand. "I'm Peter. As you might have guessed."

She takes his hand, shaking it once before letting it go. "Claire."

She wants to say something else, but Heidi chooses that moment to walk into the room. "Oh, good. You've met," she says when she sees them. She turns to her to boys. "Go wash up for dinner." They run off together and she shakes her head at them. "I don't think I'll ever be able to teach them to walk instead of run in the house."

Peter laughs good-naturedly and pats Heidi on the shoulder. "It could be a lot worse."

She smiles at that, "I guess you're right." She looks back over her shoulder at Claire and gestures to the dining room. "Dinner's ready so I hope you're as starving as me."

They follow her into the dining room where Nathan is already sitting at the head of the table, newspaper in hand. He looks up as they enter, eyes lingering on his brother. "Peter."

Peter nods his head. "Nathan."

And that's that. Nathan folds the paper together and puts it away while Peter sits down on the right side of Heidi who's sitting across from Nathan today. The boys come running in, taking their seats. Monty besides Peter and to the left of Nathan and Simon to the right of Nathan where Heidi is usually sitting. That leaves Claire across from Peter and she sits down slowly, not quite grasping how this dinner is going to go down.

For the first part of dinner it's mostly Simon and Monty talking, asking Peter all kinds of things and making him promise to stay and play with them when they're done.

"Claire, too!"

Claire's head shoots up at the mention of her name and she realizes she's been zoning out. Simon looks at her expectantly, but she's completely blank.

"Uh, sorry, Simon. What did you say?"

"You can play too, right?"

She doesn't know why, but she glances at Peter. "Sure, I'll play with you guys." That seems to satisfy both boys.

"So, Claire," Peter begins and if he notices all eyes on him as he speaks directly to her, he ignores it. He looks at her, and just her. "How's living with my broody brother?"

She glances at Nathan, who seems to be ignoring the comment, then looks down immediately. There's a teasing tone to Peter's voice, but it still makes her uncomfortable.

It's getting even more uncomfortable the longer she waits to answer.

"It's good here."

It's short and simple so she figures she's safe. And really, living here _is _good. She's still too afraid to admit to herself that she's starting to like being here. The rest of dinner moves more smoothly, Peter trying to make casual conversation with all of them.

When she falls into bed that night, she feels – if only just a little bit – lighter inside. Though nothing can ever replace what she lost, she's starting to realize that she'll get through it. Some day. She's just not ready for that yet.


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: It's taken me awhile to get this written and it's not exactly how I imagined it, but sometimes that's what happens when you sit down to write. I hope you'll like it and just know that I haven't given up on this even though it may take me some time to update. I write whenever I get the chance. It's unbeta'd and even though I try to read it through multiple times and correct my errors, sometimes I don't get them all. I know the chapter isn't super long, but I'll try to work on that for the next time. Enjoy!**

It's Friday night and Claire is standing awkwardly outside Brody's door. She can hear the party inside, the loud thumps of music, the laughing, and the buzzing that occurs when multiple people are talking at the same time.

She wants to turn around. She no longer remembers why coming here was such a great idea.

She rubs her arms, beginning to feel the coldness of the evening. Her jacket is thin and a little itchy, but that's the thing about smart clothes; it isn't made for comfort and bad weather.

For a moment, she considers just turning around and calling a cab to take her back to her aunt's place, but at the moment that place doesn't seem any better than where she's standing right now. It's not like she's been in a fight with Heidi or anything, she just can't take the awkward conversations and sad glances that are thrown her way every other second anymore.

To be honest, Heidi had only been relieved when Claire had first spoken about the party.

She takes a deep breath and goes in. No one notices her as she slips inside. The music is too loud and it makes her ears hurt, which she thinks is weird, because she used to live for these kinds of parties. There are people dancing everywhere and even those who stand around talking in the corners are rocking their bodies to the rhythm.

She finds alcohol in the kitchen. Brody's parents aren't home, they never are, and he's got a friend who supplies him with the good stuff, not caring that Brody's underage. She pours herself a drink; vodka and soda and she gulps it down quickly and mixes another. She didn't come here to have fun. She just wants to forget.

Brody finds her when she's walking around the house, looking for someone she can at least pretend to have a normal conversation with. She's on her third drink and she's beginning to feel a nice buzz from drinking so fast. She finishes her drink quickly, though, when Brody spots her. She hasn't had enough for this.

"You came!" The surprise is evident in his voice, but he also seems happy about it. He hugs her and she forces a smile.

"Never one to say no to free alcohol," she jokes and holds up her empty glass.

He grins and flings his arm around her shoulders, leading her back towards the kitchen. "Let's get you a refill."

They end up doing shots with a lot of the guys from the football team and it doesn't take long before she's positively drunk.

And that's when it starts going downhill. She hugs the vodka and snaps at anyone trying to take it from her and when even Brody starts trying to cut her off, she just about loses it.

"Go away!" she says when he comes towards her. She's been hiding in the guestroom feeling sorry for herself for the last half hour or so, sipping off a vodka flask.

He eyes the vodka in her hand but doesn't mention it. Instead he just scratches his neck awkwardly, obviously drunk himself. "Everyone's been looking for you."

"They should stop looking then." Another sip. The flask is almost empty.

She's sitting on the bed and he sits down beside her. "They won't look in here." She doesn't catch on at first, but then he starts kissing her shoulder and moves up to her neck and she's just sitting there, letting him all the while gripping the flask tighter in her hand.

She tries to shrug him off when his hands start to wander, but he completely ignores that.

"Stop it." She's serious, but he continues trying to kiss her. She wants to move away, but he's got his hands around her, holding her in place. She doesn't even know how they got this close.

"Brody. Stop!"

"Shhh," he whispers, his breath hot in her ear.

She elbows him in the ribs, quickly standing up when he loosens his grip in shock. She gets dizzy immediately and the whole room starts spinning.

"What the hell!" He groans and stands up too, tries to grab her but she takes a step back. "Stop being such a bitch." He tries to take the vodka out of her hand, but she turns so he can't reach it. "Give it to me!"

"No! Leave me alone!" She's yelling, and his hand is covering her mouth before she even realizes it, and she knows he's afraid that anyone will hear and come barging in.

"Fuck," he mutters and backs away, putting his hands up in surrender. "I'm not dealing with this."

He goes in a big circle around her towards the door. He opens it and the sound of music gets louder. "When you stop being such an uptight bitch, come find me."

He barely has the door shut behind him before Claire is throwing the vodka at the door, tears glistering in her eyes as she watches it shatter. The whole floor is covered in broken glass and she's standing in the middle of it, blaming Brody for making her cry, blaming Heidi for making her come here and blaming herself for thinking she could feel normal again.

She falls to her knees among the shattered glass, picking up pieces and throwing them at the door in a fit of rage. She just picks up the pieces she can reach, hurls them at the door and watches as they land on the floor again. Music is still pumping loudly from the outside and no one comes in to see what she's doing.

She brings her hand up to wipe the tears away from her eyes, and that's when she sees that her hand is all covered in red. Holding her hand in front of her, she watches as blood pours out from somewhere she can't see and small drops are falling, staining her clothes. It's only when she's looking at it that she starts to feel the pain and she presses her hand towards her chest, holding it tight with the other and squeezes her eyes shut.

She doesn't know how long she sits like this, rocking her body forward and back like she's comforting herself, head held low and eyes closed. Her hand hurts, the room is spinning and it feels like her head is about to burst from all the thoughts inside. It's not until someone is pressing their hand against her shoulder that she recognizes that she's not alone anymore, not having noticed the door opening or someone stepping on the glass to get to her. She tries to shrug the hand off because she doesn't want anyone to see her like this and maybe, if she doesn't open her eyes she can pretend that all this isn't real.

"Oh, my god."

Someone's grabs her hand and she blinks her eyes open and tries to see through the black spots in front of her eyes. A girl she's fairly sure she hasn't seen before is kneeling down beside her, holding her hand and looking wide eyed at all the blood.

"I'm fine," Claire insists and tries to get out of the girl's hold, but the other girl just tightens her grip and inspects her hand further.

"This needs stitches," the girl says and Claire looks from the girl to her hand. Obviously, the girl is seeing more than Claire is, because Claire thought it was just a little scratch.

"I just – " she tries to stand up, but her legs give away under her weight. "I just need to –"

She stops midway through her second attempt to stand up and falls to the ground again. She furrows her brows in question and doesn't know whether to laugh or cry, because what does she need to? She doesn't know what she needs, doesn't know anything, because she wants her mom but she can't have her and if she can't have her she doesn't know what she needs.

"Oh, my god." For a moment she'd forgotten about the other girl until she speaks again. "Does it hurt a lot?" And the girl is still looking at Claire's hand and now Claire is able to see the gash going from the palm of her hand to her wrist.

She feels dizzy. Doesn't even realize she's tilting backwards until the girl is catching her and pushes her up in a sitting situation again.

"I'm not feeling so good," Claire finally says. She takes a deep breath, afraid she'll throw up but whether it's from drinking too much or the blood she doesn't know.

The girl pulls out her phone and Claire's first thought is that this will be all over the school on Monday, pictures of her; drunk off her ass and not able to take care of herself, and _really, _that's just what she needs, another reason for everybody to stare at her.

However, the girl brings the phone to her ear and even though Claire is drunk, it doesn't take her long to realize that she's calling 911, and that's just embarrassing.

She wants to put up a fight and insist that she's fine, but suddenly the words just won't leave her mouth and her vision starts getting blurred and now that she's calmed down a bit, the alcohol in her system makes her really tired and she just wants to close her eyes, even just for a little bit. And lately, this feeling of being tired has been precious to her because while she feels tired all the time, she's never tired enough to sleep and spends almost every night tossing and turning. So now, even in her drunken stupor, she knows to embrace it. So she does.


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N: Firstly, I'd like to apologize for the long wait. It's been a rough couple of months with exams, work and some personal stuff. I haven't been writing as much as I wanted but I really tried with this one. I know I said I would try to work on a longer chapter, but that just didn't happen. Sorry. I think this is actually like a hundred words shorter than the one before. But it just felt so natural to end it here, so I hope you will go with it. **

**Secondly, I'm sorry if this seems at all rushed. I don't have a beta, and sometimes it's difficult to see your own mistakes. I just wanted to get this out to you. I'll probably look it through later for any huge mistakes. As always, let me know what you think!**

As if it wasn't embarrassing enough to get drunk at a stupid underage party (how the hell they explained that when the ambulance came by is a mystery to her) it gets even worse when she wakes up in an all white room, machines beeping beside her and an IV plugged into her arm and the first person she sees is _Peter_. Her aunt's husband's (she can't get herself to call him uncle) brother. She groans. Literally groans. He turns to her in a second, concerned eyes searching her face.

"Hey," he says in a soft voice and he's smiling, which is warm and nice. "How are you feeling?"

She looks around the hospital room and her eyes finally stop at the IV. As if reading her mind, Peter nods at it and says, "IV was just to sober you up."

"Why am I here?" she asks, because as far as she remembers she wasn't hurt that badly. This makes her remember her hand and she looks down and is surprised to see it wrapped in gaze and presumably all stitched up. How did she not wake up until now?

"You were pretty out of it when we arrived at the house. Great party, by the way, so sorry the police had to break it up."

She can tell by the roll of her eyes that he doesn't mean it one bit. She sinks further down in the bed in embarrassment. Brody is never going to talk to her again, but then again, she's not so sure she wants anything to do with him after last night either.

"Normally, I wouldn't have recommended admitting you for observation, but I know my brother. The hospital was a much better choice to sleep it out."

"What time is it?"

He glances at his watch. "Almost five. In the morning. You've been out a couple of hours."

She looks up at him, trying to calculate how long she's been here but she has no idea how late it was at the party and it hurts her head too much to think about.

"What were you even doing there?"

He chuckles at that and it somehow annoys her, as if it's some big joke that she doesn't understand.

"I'm a paramedic."

Her eyes immediately look him up and down, but there's no uniform.

"My shift ended a couple of hours ago. I figured I'd stay with you so I could explain what happened," he offers as an explanation and she realizes she's been staring at him just a little too long.

She blushes and turns her head, hopes he doesn't notice.

"Your hand and most of your clothes were covered in blood. No serious damage was done to your hand, so you were lucky. It needed stitches, but you'll be fine. It'll probably just hurt for a while."

She's still wearing the bloody clothes and she can't wait to get it changed. Looking at the window, she sees her own reflection. She can't help but wonder what her parents would say to this whole mess. Her dad would get pissed. Like, seriously full on yelling and grounding her for eternity, threaten to lock her in her room. She would yell right back at him, tell him that she's almost an adult (you're still just a kid, he would argue) and that she doesn't need him to take care of her, though secretly she loves to see how much he cares. Her mother wouldn't yell. She never really did, but she would look at her with these disappointed eyes, but then she would tell her that she loves her and hug her and they'd be okay. She can see it all in her head, plays out the scenery. She misses the yelling. Misses the disappointed eyes. She would give everything to get it back.

Peter clears his throat. For a moment she forgot he was even there, but she turns her eyes back to him. He's scratching the back of his neck, head slightly bowed as he looks at his shoes. "I'll take you home when you're feeling ready."

"Why?"

"Uh." He looks up at her. "Don't you want to go home?"

She shakes her head, "that's not what I meant. Why are you taking me home?" At this, he only seems to grow more confused and it's getting awkward pretty fast. "I mean, why aren't Heidi even here? Isn't it standard procedure to call the pa-" she stops herself, but they both know what she was about to say. She swallows, "family."

"Nothing's really standard about this. I told them I'm your family so they let me deal with this." He looks kind sheepish as he adds the last part, "I didn't actually call Heidi. Or Nathan."

She frowns. "But you're not."

"What?"

"My family," she clarifies.

He shrugs, and she can see that he seems a little confused.

"My brother's married to your aunt which makes you his niece. So, technically, he's your family, and I'm his family so…"

Her eyebrow goes up and she crosses her arms.

"But obviously you don't care about technicalities. Would you rather I just call them now?"

He digs out his phone and she knows a challenge when she sees one. They both know what will happen if he calls them and while she's not completely sure they'll be happy to see her arriving with Peter, it's better than them picking her up in the hospital.

Suddenly, her eyes grow wide. "Oh, my god. I never made it home last night! Heidi must be freaking out." She looks around frantically, ignoring the shots of pain going through her hand. "Where's my phone?"

Peter moves forward, his hand disappearing into his pocket and pulling out her phone. He hands it to her and she's only a little confused as to why he had it in his pocket and he just shrugs and mumbles something about not forgetting it anywhere, but she's too focused on checking her messages to really listen.

There are none. Zero. Nothing at all. Not even from any of her friends.

"I don't think they've noticed yet."

Peter grins. "Great. That gives us more time to get your home."

"I don't get you," she says suddenly. He tilts his head slightly to the side and looks at her expectantly. "I mean, I got drunk at an underage party and cut my hand. Aren't you supposed to give me a lecture or anything? Get mad, yell, something like that."

He begins to laugh and if it wasn't because her head was hurting and her hand was throbbing, she would probably realize just how nice a sound that was. "Would you like me to?"

"Well, no. But I don't understand."

"The way I see it, ending up in here is punishment enough. Of course, I don't think Heidi or Nathan will think the same, but I think you understand you were lucky and it could have ended much worse."

She looks at him and just doesn't know what to think. He keeps surprising her and she has no idea why he's doing this for her. He's helping her and she didn't even ask for it.

She doesn't know how to reply and he seems to get that, so he just squeezes her shoulder and smiles.

"I'll go get you signed out so we can leave."

When she's alone, she looks down at her phone again. It's nearing six o'clock and she doesn't know when Heidi and Nathan will get up. It doesn't really bother her that none of her friends have texted her, but the fact that her aunt hasn't even noticed she's not home kind of bothers her. Her parents would have noticed. They _always_ noticed. They always knew where she was and they were always there when she needed them. She doesn't realize she's crying until tears are falling onto her phone and she throws it away, feeling it land by her feet. Tears turn into sobs and sobs turns into her not breathing, because she just _can't_.

She wants her mom to hold her hand and tell her everything will be okay. She wants her dad to comfort her and promise that she'll always be his little girl.

Peter walks back in and she looks up at him, but doesn't stop crying. It's the first time she's cried in front of others, if you don't count in last night when she was drunk. If he's shocked, he doesn't show it, his features soft as he moves towards her. Neither of them says anything as he climbs on the bed, wraps his arms around her and holds her close. She cries and he strokes her hair. They just sit there and suddenly, she feels like she can breathe again. She feels herself calm with the feeling of his arms around her. She's able to take a deep breath and his arms loosen a little. She doesn't know how he did it, but she feels okay. She feels alive. And that's the first time she's done that in a long time.


End file.
